Texas woman says unborn baby counts as passenger in HOV lane

When an officer pulled Brandy Bottone over for driving by herself in a high occupancy vehicle lane in Texas just days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, she pointed to her pregnant belly and told him her unborn daughter now counts as a person.

Bottone, who was eight months pregnant when she was pulled over June 29, says she told him that “with everything going on, this counts as a baby.” In Texas, the fall of Roe put in motion a trigger law that would ban virtually all abortions, and defines an unborn child as a living human from fertilization to birth.

Bottone, of suburban Dallas, plans to fight the ticket in court next week.

Brandy Bottone poses at her home in Plano, Texas, on Wednesday, July 6, 2022. Brandy recently contested an HOV lane violation based on her pregnancy status. (Jason Janik/The Dallas Morning News via AP)